GERMANY: Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe AG has awarded a consortium of Alstom Transportation Deutschland and Kiepe Electric a €363m contract to supply 64 Citadis low-floor trams to a new configuration adapted for the German market.
The order announced by KVB on November 24 covers 62 trams 60 m long, plus two of around 30 m. Two long and two short pre-series vehicles are scheduled to be delivered at the end of 2023 for a year of testing, with delivery of the series production fleet to follow from the end of 2024. There are options for up to 47 further trams.
The Citadis trams are intended to replace 124 K4000 trams supplied by Bombardier Transportation. KVB said the use of longer vehicles would reduce the risk of accidents by eliminating the need to couple trams, while also providing more capacity and more doors for faster boarding and alighting.
KVB plans to operate pairs of long and short trams with a total length of 90 m on the busy east-west Route 1. In the longer term they could also be deployed on Route 9.
The Citadis trams will feature large windows, soft LED lighting, large individual seats, travel information screens and 10 double doors on each side. They will have a driver assistance system, a collision warning system able to alert the driver to objects up to 80 m away, automatic dipped beams, rain sensors and sensors to facilitate predictive maintenance. In a customisation for the German market they will have six bogies and steel carbodies.
Consortium leader Alstom has a 60% share of the contract, and will manufacture the trams at its Barcelona plant in Spain with the bogies to be supplied from its Le Creusot site in France.
‘Following the contract with VGF in Frankfurt, this order is a further proof of the worldwide success of our flagship tram’, said Dr Jörg Nikutta, Managing Director of Alstom in Germany & Austria. ‘Our trams will provide passengers with the highest level of passenger comfort and will support KVB in successfully meeting the challenges of urban transport.’
The electrical components will be supplied by Kiepe Electric’s Düsseldorf plant under what Dr Jürgen Wilder, member of the executive board of parent company Knorr-Bremse, said was the largest single order in the history of Kiepe Electric.
Knorr-Bremse will also supply the hydraulic braking systems, and its subsidiaries IFE the door systems and MERAK the ‘innovative’ air-conditioning which will meet KVB’s sustainability requirements with a CO2-based refrigerant and using waste heat to warm the passenger compartment.
